The last thing I saw was a face smiling at me before my already impaired vision began to fade to black. I couldn't tell who it was, and I couldn't hear their voice, but somehow I knew that it was one of my family members coming to say goodbye. Perhaps Edmund or Lucy, or one of my nieces and nephews. It had to be one of them, as I had no children of my own.
"But Susan," Lucy had said to me many years ago, after the end of the war. "What if you never see him again? You ought to try and find someone."
"You have a point, Lue," I had replied, hugging her slender shoulders. "But Aslan told me that we still exist after death. If there's any hope that I can find him again, I'm going to take it."
And now that time was upon me.
A pleasant numbness overtook my weary, aching body, beginning in my heart and ending in my fingers and toes. Gradually, I began to no longer feel the need to breathe, urging the darkness to creep closer.
It took my gently, lifting me out of my body until I was standing beside the form of a withered old woman, exhaling her last breath. The machines near her stopped beeping, their readings dropping to zero.
An aged, tired-looking Edmund sat at the bedside, holding a cane in his gnarled hands. I saw Lucy sitting in a wheelchair nearby.
"I hope you find what you're looking for, Susan." she murmured, looking directly at me. Her age-worn face crinkled into a smile.
Then, I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I turned and saw Peter standing beside me, but a different Peter than I was used to. The last time I had seen him, he had been nearly as ancient as I was, but now his hair, skin and eyes seemed to glow with youthful radiance. He was as lean and strong as he was in Narnia, when he was Lord of Cair Paravel.
My face split into a grin as I threw my arms around him. My brother was as warm and familiar as I remembered him from over eighty years ago
"Pete, I missed you so much…." I murmured into his neck. In that moment, I realized that my body had restored itself in the same way that Peter's had, young and strong and as light as air. It was dizzying how different it felt not to be old and in pain all the time.
"Me too, Susan." Peter replied. "Now come on. It's time for you to come home." He took my hand and led me out of the room, past orderlies and nurses as they ran to my body's side. As we walked, the nursing home began to dissolve into a comfortable blackness. There wasn't an up or a down or anything really, but nothing about it inspired fear. In fact, it was familiar. "There's someone here to see you, Sue." Peter said.
My hopes skyrocketed, but fear chewed at their edges. My whole life I had been wondering if I was missing out on something that I would never have again, all because I couldn't let go of something that had happened in a world that wasn't my own. What if Narnians went to a different afterlife when they died or something else entirely? What if when I got there, he wouldn't remember me? Or even worse, what if he had fallen in love with someone else and didn't want to see me anymore?
I suddenly felt terrified.
"Susan, it's going to be okay." Peter laughed, smiling brightly. He let go of my hand, and I was suddenly standing in an outdoor garden filled with so many colors that I couldn't describe them all. The trees and flowers and plants reminded me of Narnia, but somehow fifty times more beautiful.
They all faded into nothing when I saw what I had been waiting for. There, standing near a tree, dressed in white and grinning at me, was the person I had been waiting for for ninety long years.
"Caspian!" I cried, breaking into a run. In moments, I was wrapped in his arms, any fear and uncertainty dissolving into nothing as he held me tightly and kissed me. I put my arms around his neck, pushing my fingers into his soft, dark hair while all of my memories came flooding back in full.
Memories that I'd had before I was born as Susan Pevensie.
I'd known Caspian for far longer than our short time together in Narnia, and the feelings we shared lasted just as long.
I was stirred from my reverie by Caspian moving away. He took my face in his warm, sturdy hands and gazed down at me. He was smiling his perfect, white smile.
"I have been waiting a long time to see you again." he said. Remnants of his Telmarine accent had returned to his rich, soft voice.
I couldn't reply, even as tears of joy welled in my eyes and spilled down my face like tiny rivers.
Caspian smiled again and pulled me close, gently kissing my ear. A moment later, I felt my brother join in the embrace.
A choked laugh escaped my lips as I buried my face in Caspian's chest. He even smelled like he did in Narnia.
"Welcome home, little one." a voice said from to my left. I peeked out from over Caspian's arm and saw someone who looked different, but I recognized nonetheless.
"Aslan,"